Jan 28, 2006 7:08:13 PM
- SeattleGT3
- Pilot
-
- Loc: WA , United States
- Posts: 431, Gallery
- Registered on: May 16, 2005
IPOD and Blue tooth Integration
There seems to be a new thread every week on how to integrate an IPOD into the factory systems in our 997's. I posted this topic a while ago but the site that hosted my pictures is down so the old post if you search it does not show pictures, so I will post again. For most people the simple solution is to just get an FM modulator and charger and that is as good as it gets. However I also know that many of us who like fine cars also like fine electronics and fine sound systems. That passion for audiophile quality sound led me to go a different path with the audio in my997. Everyone knows that PCM incorporates the radio and CD functions whilst also controlling the audio and trip computer, it also controls the sports chrono functions,. Based on all that there is no way to just upgrade to a new head unit. So INTEGRATION is the way you have to go. Now there is a number of companies that are working on hacking the MOST bus. Denison in particular showed a working Demo in a Cayenne at this years Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas. My installers are trying to get a beta unit and as soon as I get one I will post my experience. Hacking the MOST bus would allow you to hook the IPOD directly into the bus and in theory have the IPOD display on PCM as well as have the steering wheel controls be able to control the IPOD. Denison is treating it like a CD changer. So I suspect if you have a CD changer you will have to get rid of it to use the IPOD. In the long run I think this will be the best solution when it is available.
In my case however I also wanted to upgrade the Quality of the sound system, so here is what the team who worked on my car did. We left the factory head unit in place as well as the factory amp. We first put in an Audio Control LC8 to take the speaker level output from the factor amp and turn them into line level outputs.
Audio Control LC8 URL The dynamic range of the factory head unit is severely restricted to deal with the quality of the factory speakers in the system and incorporates non-defeatable equalization curves aimed at correcting the response of those speakers, as well as protecting the relatively weak bose speakers from overload. I know many of us paid more for the Bose system but it is still not audiophile quality. Examples of the limitations include bass roll-off at increasing volume settings, or severe midrange EQ to tame the response of OEM speakers. Since we ended up replacing those speakers I needed to bring the full dynamic range back . To do this we now took the output from the Audio Control LC8 and we used a new unit from JLAudio called a cleansweep Clean Sweep URL
it returns the full dynamic range to any head unit and gives you a clean signal to put into your amplifier. This unit also happens to have an auxiliary input. We used this input to handle the IPOD. So now you have a full dynamic range output for both PCM and IPOD. To switch between PCM and the IPOD there are two knobs that we put in the cubby near the stick shift boot. The first one is a volume control and push switch between the PCM and the IPOD.
The second one controls the volume of the sub. We then added an additional 5 channel amplifier from JLaudio in the bottom of the trunk area that gives you a 250 Watt Sub Channel plus 100 watts a channel on the front two speakers and 25 watts a channel on the rear two speakers.
We took out the factory Sub box behind the rear seats and made a new one with 4 downward firing focal 6 inch subs. It now has tons of base complete IPOD integration and sounds awesome. You do have to be careful. It can get VERY loud and the base is Very deep.
The last thing we did was blue tooth integration. I like many of you was disappointed that the 997 did not ship with Bluetooth. I am a bit of a phone geek and I change phones pretty often so I wanted a Bluetooth solution that would work with all my phones and PDA's. At the time I choose the Parrot as the unit that I would use in the 997. Pin 3 on the powercable for the PCM is a Mute for the stereo when you apply power to it. So if you connect the defeat pin from the parrot to the PCM mute pin when a call comes it it will mute the stereo and say "external phone active" on the head unit.
I then had to decide where to put the parrot. Originally I put it to the right of the steering wheel in that blank spot on the leather. In this location I could not see the caller ID. Ultimately I decided I did not use the clock in the wart so we took the clock out and put the Bluetooth display in the wart. What I found is if you take the clock out PCM throws error codes. So the clock is actually still in there neatly tucked under the dash.
I now have blue tooth with sound system muting along with great IPOD integration. My friends at http://www.benchmarkmotoring.com/ did all the work if anyone wants to know more.
In my case however I also wanted to upgrade the Quality of the sound system, so here is what the team who worked on my car did. We left the factory head unit in place as well as the factory amp. We first put in an Audio Control LC8 to take the speaker level output from the factor amp and turn them into line level outputs.
Audio Control LC8 URL The dynamic range of the factory head unit is severely restricted to deal with the quality of the factory speakers in the system and incorporates non-defeatable equalization curves aimed at correcting the response of those speakers, as well as protecting the relatively weak bose speakers from overload. I know many of us paid more for the Bose system but it is still not audiophile quality. Examples of the limitations include bass roll-off at increasing volume settings, or severe midrange EQ to tame the response of OEM speakers. Since we ended up replacing those speakers I needed to bring the full dynamic range back . To do this we now took the output from the Audio Control LC8 and we used a new unit from JLAudio called a cleansweep Clean Sweep URL
it returns the full dynamic range to any head unit and gives you a clean signal to put into your amplifier. This unit also happens to have an auxiliary input. We used this input to handle the IPOD. So now you have a full dynamic range output for both PCM and IPOD. To switch between PCM and the IPOD there are two knobs that we put in the cubby near the stick shift boot. The first one is a volume control and push switch between the PCM and the IPOD.
The second one controls the volume of the sub. We then added an additional 5 channel amplifier from JLaudio in the bottom of the trunk area that gives you a 250 Watt Sub Channel plus 100 watts a channel on the front two speakers and 25 watts a channel on the rear two speakers.
We took out the factory Sub box behind the rear seats and made a new one with 4 downward firing focal 6 inch subs. It now has tons of base complete IPOD integration and sounds awesome. You do have to be careful. It can get VERY loud and the base is Very deep.
The last thing we did was blue tooth integration. I like many of you was disappointed that the 997 did not ship with Bluetooth. I am a bit of a phone geek and I change phones pretty often so I wanted a Bluetooth solution that would work with all my phones and PDA's. At the time I choose the Parrot as the unit that I would use in the 997. Pin 3 on the powercable for the PCM is a Mute for the stereo when you apply power to it. So if you connect the defeat pin from the parrot to the PCM mute pin when a call comes it it will mute the stereo and say "external phone active" on the head unit.
I then had to decide where to put the parrot. Originally I put it to the right of the steering wheel in that blank spot on the leather. In this location I could not see the caller ID. Ultimately I decided I did not use the clock in the wart so we took the clock out and put the Bluetooth display in the wart. What I found is if you take the clock out PCM throws error codes. So the clock is actually still in there neatly tucked under the dash. I now have blue tooth with sound system muting along with great IPOD integration. My friends at http://www.benchmarkmotoring.com/ did all the work if anyone wants to know more.
